


The Book

by SharkGirl



Series: SpooOooOOoooOoky (Writober 2016) [14]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - College/University, Day 14 - Seemingly Innocuous Object, Established Relationship, M/M, Mild Blood, Scary, Spooky, Writober 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-13
Updated: 2016-10-13
Packaged: 2018-08-22 06:04:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8275427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharkGirl/pseuds/SharkGirl
Summary: There they were, on a perfectly lovely summer afternoon, crammed inside a stuffy and dusty old bookstore, looking for a mystery novel.Written for Writober 2016Day 14 - Seemingly Innocuous Person or Object/Lies





	

**Author's Note:**

> This one went long, but I love MidoTaka so...meh >B3c
> 
> I think this is kinda spooky. Maybe? Probably not. But I like it.
> 
> Un-beta'd. Please enjoy!!

Takao wasn’t a superstitious person.  He knew all things happened for a reason, but he didn’t believe that carrying around an old pocket watch when you were in twelfth place on Oha Asa would keep you from suffering whatever grand inconvenience fate had in store for you.

But then he’d met Midorima Shintarou, who followed his daily horoscope’s instructions to the letter, making sure he had his lucky item in the right size and color.

And that’s how Takao found himself in a used bookstore on a perfectly lovely summer afternoon.

“Shin-chaaaan…” he whined, knowing that got under the bespectacled man’s skin. “Are we done yet?”

“Do I have a book in my hands?” Midorima asked, glaring at him while adjusting his glasses.

They were in college now, but his boyfriend hadn’t grown out of his ‘superstitious phase’ – his mother’s words – so, there they were, crammed inside a stuffy and dusty old bookstore, looking for a mystery novel.

Takao gazed out the grimy window at the sky.  It was a lovely blue – turned sepia by the aged glass – with just the right amount of cloud coverage to keep it from getting too hot.

He really wanted to play basketball.

“If we don’t hurry, there won’t be any courts open,” he said, leaning against a bookshelf.

“Perhaps we’d find it faster if you helped search,” Midorima replied, emerald eyes continuing to scan spines, surely hoping the title or author’s name would jump out to him.

Takao watched him and then made a big show of sighing.

“Fine.” He stood up and turned to face the shelves. “What’s it called again?” But before Midorima could respond, Takao’s sharp eyes spotted it – two shelves up, third from the left.  He reached for it, but, even on his tiptoes, his fingers barely brushed the spine.  “A little help, Shin-chan?”

“I suppose.” Midorima lifted his arm, pulling the book free from its neighbors with a long finger; however, before he could grasp it properly, there was a loud cracking sound.  The old shelf gave out and several books fell to the ground. 

For the most part, Midorima and Takao made it through the book-a-lanche – as Takao referred to it for the rest of the afternoon – unscathed, but the one book in question was the last to fall, hitting Takao right on the top of his head.

“Oww...” He groaned, rubbing the sore spot.

“Are you alright, Kazu?” Midorima asked, dusting off his clothing.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Takao bent down to pick up the book. “At least we got it.” He held it out to Midorima, but, as he passed it over, it slipped from his fingers, the dust cover slicing his thumb open.  “Shit!” he cursed, dropping the book and cradling his thumb.

The paper cut was deep and, fingers having as many capillaries as they did, blood gushed out like there was no tomorrow.

“Damn.” Takao held his thumb out and away from his clothes.

“We’ve got to apply pressure,” Midorima said, reaching into his pocket and producing an orange handkerchief.  He wrapped it tightly around Takao’s bleeding thumb before knotting the end.  “We’ll have to bandage it up properly at home, but this should do for now.”

“Aww, thanks, Shin-chan.” Takao batted his eyelashes obnoxiously and the other man rolled his eyes.  He snickered and inspected his makeshift bandage.  “Why did you have this in your pocket, anyway?” he asked.

Midorima bent down and picked up the book before adjusting his glasses and meeting his boyfriend’s gaze.  “Scorpio’s lucky item,” he said and Takao bit his lip to keep from laughing.

“You’re always thinking of me, aren’t you, Shin-chan?” he teased as they made their way to the cash register.

 

Because of his injury, they went straight to Midorima’s childhood home, as it was closer to the bookstore than their shared dorm room, instead of heading to the basketball court – much to Takao’s disappointment.  But, once he was bandaged up – Thank you, Dr. Midorima-in-training – they cuddled together on the couch to watch a movie.

“It’s been a while since we made out on this couch,” Takao said suggestively, side-eyeing his boyfriend.

“Absolutely not.” Midorima grabbed the remote and selected the language from the DVD’s options.

“Spoilsport.” Takao stuck his tongue out.

They made it a good fifteen minutes into the movie before the power went out.  The odd thing was, the forecast hadn’t even called for rain.  But, as if from nowhere, a storm blew in.

“It wasn’t that great a movie, anyway,” Takao offered, cuddling closer to Midorima. “Want to do something else?”

“We can start working on our summer reading assignments-”

“Booooring!” Takao lamented and draped himself over the arm of the couch.  After a moment, he sat back up. “If we’re going to read, we might as well take a look at your lucky item, right?”

“I suppose…” Midorima reached for the book on the table beside him. “It’s in English, though.”

“That’s fine,” Takao said. “You can read to me and I’ll help on the words you don’t understand.” He laughed and then hissed through his teeth when Midorima hit him over the head.  “Oww, oww.” He lifted his arms up to protect himself. “Haven’t I suffered enough at the hands of that book?”

“Books don’t have hands, Kazunari.”

“You knew what I meant, _Shintarou_.” He stuck his tongue out again. “Anyway, let’s read.”

“Fine.” Midorima stood up. “I think I left a flashlight in my old room.”

“Your room? Ooh, Shin-chan, how bold!”

“Kazu…”

 

As it turned out, the book was some mundane mystery novel.  Something that probably would have been interesting back in its day, but was now amazingly easy to solve.

“I told you he did it,” Takao said once Midorima had finished reading.

“Of course he did, but we had to finish it.”

“Just like Shin-chan not to stop halfway.” Takao snorted.  He was lying on Midorima’s bed, the taller man seated on the floor with his back against the mattress. “Come up here?”

“I’m sure my parents will be home soon.”

“Wow, this really feels like we’re back in high school.”

“You’re certainly acting like it,” Midorima said with a sigh.

“You’re tough.” Takao oozed off the bed and into his boyfriend’s lap. “Can’t we…just a little?”

Midorima set his lucky item down and adjusted his glasses for the umpteenth time that day.

“Very well.”

 

Much later, when they were dozing on Midorima’s bed, Takao woke up to nature’s call.  He shuffled out of the room, almost tripping over the other man’s book.  He picked it up – carefully this time, he was running out of thumbs – and put it on the nightstand, then he headed to the bathroom.

“Ah, much better,” he sighed and opened the bathroom door.  He stepped forward and stopped when his foot hit something.  He looked down and saw the mystery novel.  “Ha ha, very funny, Shin-chan.”  He picked it up and continued to his boyfriend’s bedroom.  “I could have slipped on this, you know,” he said when he arrived, but Midorima didn’t answer.  He was still asleep.

Takao frowned, but shook his head, setting the book back on the nightstand.  He felt a little thirsty and remembered the soda he’d seen in the fridge downstairs.  Forgetting the weirdness of the randomly appearing book, he headed down the hallway.

He made it just past Midorima’s sister’s room when he spotted something a few feet ahead.  His eyes widened.  It was the book again.  But it couldn’t be.  There was no way.  Midorima hadn’t had enough time to sneak out and put it there.

“Shin-chan?” he called and turned around, ready to give up on his drink and just crawl back into bed, but he froze.  The book was in front of Midorima’s door now.  “This isn’t funny,” he said to no one in particular.

Takao faced away and took the few strides back to the sister’s room, thinking that maybe she’d come home early from camp and was playing tricks on him.  But, when he opened her door, there was no one inside.  Just one thing on the bed.

The book.

“What the hell?!” he shouted and staggered backwards out of the room.

He bolted down the hallway and toward the stairs.  He took one step and slipped, tumbling down the steps and landing hard on the floor beneath.  His entire body ached from his fall and he was pretty sure he had a mess of bruises, but nothing seemed broken.

Takao got up onto his hands and knees and looked up in horror at the book at the top of the stairs.  That’s what he’d slipped on.

“G-Get away from me!” he shouted, realizing it was ridiculous to yell at a book, but too freaked out to care.  He closed his eyes tightly and then opened them.

The book was gone.

He let out a sigh of relief and then started to get up, but his hand brushed something.  He swallowed and took a shaky breath before turning.

It was the book.

“What do you want from me?!” he screamed.  Then he felt someone shaking him.

 

_“Kazu…Kazu!!”_

Takao jolted awake, startling the man beside him.

“Kazu, are you alright?” Midorima asked, concern showing on his face.

“Uh…a dream, huh?” Takao laughed, feeling like an idiot.  As realistic as his nightmare had been, the idea of a book chasing after him was ridiculous.

“Yes, you were having a bad dream,” Midorima said.  “And.” He glanced down. “You can give that back now.”

Takao furrowed his brow and looked down.  There, wrapped tightly in his arms and cradled against his chest, was the book.

**Author's Note:**

> Now let's add books to the list of things I'm scared of, haha.
> 
> Let me know what you think and hit me up on tumblr [@jubesy](http://jubesy.tumblr.com)!


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